DePauw Nearly Erases 19-Point Deficit; But Falls to Engineers

December 11, 2013

Greencastle, Ind. - After trailing by 19 at the intermission, DePauw battled back to within two in the final minute, but Pat Haggin's three-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark and visiting Rose-Hulman escaped with a 64-61 win over the Tigers. Both teams are now 5-3 on the season.

DePauw took an early 6-3 lead, but the Engineers held the Tigers scoreless over the next 6:25, while scoring 15 to take an 18-6 lead with 11:45 left in the half.

The Tigers closed the gap to single digits later in the half, but Rose-Hulman used a couple of 6-0 runs and took a 40-21 lead into the locker room.

DePauw shot just 34.8 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes to Rose-Hulman's 55.6 percent and the guests committed just two turnovers in the half.

The second half told a different story as DePauw knocked in seven of its first nine field goal tries to trim the lead to 44-37 at the 11:52 mark. Rose-Hulman briefly pushed the lead back to double digits, but the Tigers started chipping away again.

Haggin's layup with 1:51 left cut the margin to 57-54 before Rose-Hulman's Jimmy Miller converted a three-point play. DePauw's Michael Wilkison (pictured) then hit a pair of charity tosses to close the gap back to four.

The Engineers extended it back to 61-56 when Michael Hallstein made one of two from the line with 45 seconds remaining. The Tigers couldn't connect on the other end and the Engineers' missed the front end of a one-and-one situation.

DePauw's Adam Botts drained a three-pointer with 19.5 seconds left to cut the lead to 61-59 before Rose-Hulman's Jordy Martin nailed a pair of free throws to make it 63-59. Bradley Fey responded with a Tigers basket and DePauw quickly fouled Julian Strickland.

Strickland missed the first of his two free throws, but made the second to push the lead to three. The Tigers got the ball in the hands of Haggin whose contested shot from just beyond the three-point arc near the top of the key glanced off the backboard to the left of the bucket.

Wilkison led the Tigers with 15 points, while Haggin followed with 12. Bob Dillon grabbed a career-high seven rebounds and Bradley Fey dished out three assists.

Miller paced Rose-Hulman with 17 and Strickland added 12 which was almost 13 points below his season average. Tyler Duffy snagged a game-high eight rebounds as Rose-Hulman held a 29-27 edge on the boards. Martin and Strickland each handed out four assists.

DePauw shot 46.9 percent from the floor including 57.7 percent in the second half, while Rose-Hulman connected on 46.8 percent.

The Tigers return to action when they serve as hosts of the Tampa Bay Shootout, December 29-30.